How effective are our schools?

Cleveland County’s high schools have the highest percentage of effective teachers in the county. Students at two of the district’s elementary schools showed the most growth on exams.

That’s according to two performance measures recently released by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

One measure shows how student performance ranks when compared to state testing standards for the 2012-13 school year. The other measure ranks teacher effectiveness in the 2012-13 year and is based on student performance.

“I don’t dispute the data at this point; I think that sometimes, there are intangibles that can’t be measured with teachers,” said school board member Richard Hooker. “There is an area of value that can’t be measured by numbers.”

The state developed a relatively new instrument to measure teacher performance, said Superintendent Bruce Boyles.

“It is an instrument that we are using more effectively to help improve, and we represent that in the evaluation,” Boyles said

In educator effectiveness, Cleveland County lags state averages in teacher and administrator effectiveness, according to the reports.

“I think the scores are reflective of the work we do with evaluations,” Boyles said. “Our principals spend a lot of time doing teacher evaluations. We have some teachers who are top notch and other teachers who need to grow.”

Some of the teachers who need growth or improvementalso may be some of the newer teachers.

“It doesn’t surprise me that we have some teachers in the developing category,” said school board member Shearra Miller. “I would think with most of our fairly beginning teachers you are going to have that.”

However, evaluations could vary since teachers are evaluated by different people.

“One thing we need to remember is that all the teachers are not being evaluated by the same person. Some principals may be a little bit stricter than others,” Miller said. “Teachers don’t get to choose who is in their classroom or when they are observed. Everyone has bad days sometimes.”

“The numbers are a reflection of that growth and how they are progressing and becoming better teachers,” Boyles said. “The effectiveness of our teachers cannot be simplified into one number. One number doesn’t judge a school and how it is performing.”

The actual evaluation process may be more helpful to the teachers and administrators than the numbers.

“I don’t know if the numbers help teachers, but I do think the process does. These numbers represent conferences with principals,” Boyles said. “It’s not just about the academics of children, but how involved you are in the profession and how you are growing and learning.”

How effective are our educators?

* Highly effective teacher numbers were either not reported or a school did not qualify for the category if a number is not listed below. The number is a percentage of teachers at the school or in the system who exceed what was expected per a statewide growth model.

* Highly effective administrator numbers show a percentage of school leaders who contribute to acceptable, measurable progress for students. The state only reports the total number for the school system, not individual school administrators.

* The student growth percentage provides a signal for how a school’s progress compares to its expected growth. The number standardizes growth measures across subjects, grades and other factors for equitable comparison between schools. The number comes from a 2013 accountability report, the latest such report available.